Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung: Volume 2

Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung #2

by Mao Zedong

The present volume is an English translation of the second Chinese edition of the second volume of the Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, published by the People's Publishing House, Peking, in April 1960.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Philosophy, Theory, 20th Century

468 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1952

About the author

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, statesman and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

Mao rose to power by commanding the Long March, forming a Second United Front with Kuomintang (KMT) during the Second Sino-Japanese War to repel a Japanese invasion, and later led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's KMT in the Chinese Civil War. Mao established political and military control over most of the territory formerly contained within the Chinese Empire and launched a campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries. He sent the Communist People's Liberation Army into Xinjiang and Tibet but was unable to oust the remnants of the Nationalist Party from Taiwan. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. The Communist Party's final victory came after decades of turmoil in China, which included the Great Depression, a brutal invasion by Japan and a protracted civil war. Mao's Communist Party ultimately achieved a measure of stability in China, though Mao's efforts to close China to trade and market commerce, and eradicate traditional Chinese culture, have been largely rejected by his successors.

Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for some positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. These included doubling the school population, providing universal housing, abolishing unemployment and inflation, increasing health care access, and dramatically raising life expectancy. A cult of personality grew up around Mao, and community dissent was not permitted. His Communist Party still rules in mainland China, retains control of media and education there and officially celebrates his legacy. As a result, Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, and anti-revisionists continue to defend most of his policies.

Reviews

[Chet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ranks among the most important non-fiction of the 20th century. The perfect primary source readings for the lead up to the founding of the PRC. I'm pretty proud of the audiobooks I created of these so check those out free on my YouTube channel.

[Devin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely took a chunk of my time to read this, but it's worth it.

Mao was a master strategist when it came to military work, and he knew how to combine it with cultural work, economic work, and other forms of mass work of the Chinese Communist Party.

Selected Works Vol. II is the bulk of the beginning of not only the Anti-Japanese Resistance Movement and the Anti-Japanese Resistance United Front, but the struggle against the Kuomintang, headed by the reactionary Chiang Kai-Shek, for a revolutionary China -- obviously we know Mao succeeded, but this is a detailed, extremely meticulous look at how the Chinese Communist Party wove their way through resistance (dual resistance from japanese imperialists and Chinese traitors), anti-Communist onslaughts (the southern Anhwei incident), and their own errors through extensive self-criticism, studying, and action.

This collection contains "On Democracy", Mao's writings on a third approach to revolution, which is a base of the Third World movement, that which wasn't capitalist, but wasn't 100% similar to the Soviet Union (though China and the USSR worked in total solidarity with each other, exemplified by Mao praising Stalin multiple times through this collection) which I've already read separately, so I skipped. It also contains one of Mao's most famous writings, "Combat Liberalism", which never gets old.

My only hangup with Mao is the same hangup -- his words and actions are legendary and revolutionary, but Lord GOD the man is repetitive. He repeats himself a lot and like, I get what to a certain extent, but there were times where I would be reading an essay, and realize I had read the exact same paragraph in a previous essay, or 2 or 3 previous essays.

[Voyager · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second volume of the selected works of Mao Tse-Tung covers the period from the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War up to 1941. The pages and pages of military writings and writings on the war itself are of little theoretical value, although they do entertain a military curiosity. The prime interest of this volume is rather Mao's works on new democracy wherein Mao demonstrates his own liberal and class collaborationist views, in one of the later included works even going so far as to argue for a government where there is no dominant class, demonstrating his neglect of the most basic works of Marxism on the topic of the state. In general, there are some historically interesting works in this volume alongside Mao's demonstrations of his liberalism, but the thing that will make this volume so interesting for Marxists is Mao's liberalism in it.

[Ñukñu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Problems of Strategy in Guerrilla War Against Japan, On Protracted War, The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War, and Problems of War and Strategy were the most interesting chapters for me.

Huey P Newton wrote that he became a socialist after reading the first 4 volumes of Selected Works; an internal education committee within the Black Panther Party required the study of 6 works by Mao.

This volume includes history and theory. Important text for anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist organizers.

[Neal Maro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of the Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung goes through the first part of the Period of the War of Resistance Against Japan from 1937-1941.

[Jacob Woocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

dialectical af

[Ferio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuanto más leo, más me doy cuenta de que no sé prácticamente nada sobre Historia o sobre lo que ha pasado en otras partes del mundo; pardiez, difícilmente sé lo que pasa en esta en estos momentos... Este segundo volumen de la selección de obras de Mao cubre los primeros años de la guerra contra el Japón aliado de los fascismos, así como la alianza con el Kuomintang y su posterior ruptura al vérseles mucho el plumero anticomunista. También cubre, especialmente en la primera parte del tomo, cómo se organizaban los cuerpos del ejército que quedaban bajo el mando del Partido Comunista y, muy particularmente, cómo organizarían ellos la sociedad, lo que me ha resultado bastante chocante ya que, quitando ciertas inquinas con determinados sectores políticos y económicos, su propuesta de democracia liberal era casi más perfecta que la que tenemos en muchos países "avanzados"; lo que es más, asumían perfectamente que no todo podía quedar en manos de los comunistas y que, mientras no existiesen injusticias sociales tremendamente graves, todavía estaban en condiciones de convivir todos en paz.

Pero aún más chocantes resultan las decisiones, probablemente dolorosas, que tuvo que tomar por el bien de la guerra (oxímoron encubierto), que incluso en algunos casos llevaron al Partido a recomendar no mejorar las condiciones de vida de los pobres porque era contraproducente en ese momento. Esto no lo digo yo, lo dejó Mao por escrito y consta en esta obra. Ay, las condiciones, las dichosas condiciones que nunca terminan de darse...